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DRIVE GH'AIN. No. 256,014, I Patented Apr. 4,1882.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES H. LOW, 0F SANDWICH, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO J. PHELPS ADAMS, OF SAME PLACE.

DRIVE-CHAIN.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 256,014, dated April 4, 1882.

Application filed December 22, 1881. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, CHARLES H. Low, of Sandwich, in the county of De Kalb and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Drive-Chains, which are set forth in the following specification, reference being bad to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is a plan view of a piece of chain embodying my improvements; Fig. 2, adetail section of the same, on an enlarged scale, taken on the line 00 00 of Fig. 1, showing two successive link-sections, and in dotted lines one of said linksections in the position in which it is placed in relation to the coupler when about to be connected with or disconnected from the same; Fig. 3, an end view, on an enlarged scale, of one of the couplers detached; Fig. 4, a detail section of the same, taken on the line 3 y of Fig. 3; and Fig. 5, a plan view, on an enlarged scale, of one of the link-sections detached.

My invention relates to drive chains the links of which are composed of two separable parts;

The invention consists in link-sections having irregular-shaped end bars, combined with couplers having corresponding end openings, as will be hereinafter more fully explained.

In the drawings, A represents one of the link-sections, and B represents the coupler. The link-section is of the form of the half-link which would be formed by bisecting longitudinally a rectangularlink. The end bar, a, of this link-section is key-shaped. The coupler B has recesses b, adapted to receive the keyshaped end of the end bar. This coupler is also provided with a recess or chamber, 1), in which the end of the key-shaped end of the end bar of thelink-section turns and islocked The recess in the coupleris adapted to receive the end bar of the link -section when in a certain relative position and hold it locked therein when in other relative positions. This construction makes the detachment of the parts possible only under certain conditions, and not liable to occurin any ordinary use of the chain.

In the accompanyingdrawings I have shown a separate recess for each key-shaped end bar; but this is not necessary, as the end bars could be received into the same chamber in the coupler.

The operation of my invention is as follows: In constructing a chain from the link-sections A and couplers B the end bar of the link-section is inserted into the end of the coupler by holding the link-section in that position in relation to the coupler which is shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2, where, the lug of the end bar being opposite lug-shaped extensions of the recess 1), the end bar easily enters the coupler and penetrates it until the lug is opposite the recess 1), when thereis no obstruction presented to the lug, when the link-section is turned down from the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2 to that shown in full lines in the same figure, in which position the linksection is in the plane of the line of draft. As that portion of the recess 1) where the lug enters is out of the line of draft, it will be obvi-- ous that the link-sections cannot become detached from the couplers when the chain is in use.

When the end bars closely lit the bolts in the couplers it maybe necessary, of course, to adjust at the same time both end bars of a given link-section in relation to their respective couplers.

'Having thus described my invention, whatI claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. A drive chain composed of rectangular links divided lengthwise, provided with lugs or enlargements Ull LL16 BHU Udl b UI tut lllllx BCU' tions, and couplers provided with end openings corresponding with the end bars and adapted to receive them when in an unusual relative position, whereby these parts may be coupled and uncoupled by bringing them into a position different from their working position, substantially as described. 

